Concurrent and prospective associations of social media usage with binge eating symptoms in early adolescence

Xinyi Shi; Sarah Ann Duck; Elena Jansen; Bianca Borsarini; Courtney K Blackwell; Yuchen Li; Susan Carnell

doi:10.1002/oby.24199

Concurrent and prospective associations of social media usage with binge eating symptoms in early adolescence

Obesity (Silver Spring). 2024 Nov 26. doi: 10.1002/oby.24199. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Xinyi Shi^{1

2}, Sarah Ann Duck¹, Elena Jansen¹, Bianca Borsarini³, Courtney K Blackwell⁴, Yuchen Li⁵, Susan Carnell¹

Affiliations

¹ Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
² Department of Population Health, New York University Grossman School of Medicine, New York, New York, USA.
³ Laboratory of Cognitive Neurorehabilitation, Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
⁴ Department of Medical Social Sciences, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
⁵ Mental Health Center, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China.

PMID: 39587853
DOI: 10.1002/oby.24199

Abstract

Objective: This study investigated longitudinal relationships between social media usage and binge eating (BE) in early adolescence and explored potential moderating effects of sex and BMI.

Methods: Data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study, including 1940 participants aged 11 to 12 years at Wave 1, were analyzed over three annual waves. Social media addiction (SMA) scores and time spent on social media were calculated from self-report questionnaires. BE symptoms were evaluated using the Kiddie Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia (KSADS-5) through self-reports and parent reports. Modified Poisson regression was used to estimate associations, adjusting for demographic and behavioral covariates.

Results: SMA symptoms, but not time on social media, were cross-sectionally and prospectively associated with BE. Prospective associations were stronger in male adolescents and differed by baseline body weight. The consistently high SMA group showed the strongest association with follow-up BE compared with the consistently low SMA group, whereas decreased and increased SMA groups showed similarly positive associations.

Conclusions: SMA scores predict BE in early adolescence, with differentiation in the relationship by sex and weight status. Further observational and interventional research could illuminate underlying mechanisms and test the value of targeting social media-addictive behaviors to mitigate the risk of disordered eating.

Abstract

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